The Wings of our Hearts
by DepressingGreenie
Summary: Steve and Tony are cursed with wings. Neither of them handle it well. [Stony/Steve x Tony] #Wingfic, #Mutual Pining, #Tony Stark Hates Magic, #Hurt Steve Rogers, #Hurt Tony Stark, #They Need a Hug, #Alternate Canon, #Tony Stark Has a Heart, #Cap-IM Holiday Exchange, (Community Gift for the '2019 Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange')


Tony climbs the steps up from his workshop with a sigh. He knows it was about time he showed himself to the world again.

He hates magic.

Totally, with 100% certainty he absolutely hates it. Everything is always fine before magic comes along.

A week ago they fought some sorcerer calling himself Graynartt the Bewizzalling or something like that. The sorcerer fired a spell towards him and Steve jumped in to save him. Idiot. He would have been fine.

Both Steve and himself had sprout a pair of large wings as a result.

He was man enough to admit that he was hiding from Steve. …to himself. He wouldn't admit it to anyone else, hence the hiding himself away in his own home.

Wings, as it turns out, are very expressive. There's no hiding anything with them, practically if you live with four specialised individuals. He particularly didn't want his crush on Steve out in the open.

So he went down to his workshop and didn't come up for a week. But he couldn't stay down their forever and he ran out of snacks down there. So he had to leave the workshop.

He reaches the top of the stairs and pulls his wings closer to his body.

The trip to the communal kitchen-living room was short. Tony takes in a deep breath before entering, putting a smile on his face. But the smile quickly falls back off his face.

Something is wrong. Steve is missing and the atmosphere around the common room is… somewhat tense.

"Where's Steve?" he asks.

Nat looks over. "In his room" She says, there is something off in the way she says it.

"In his room? That's… not like him" he says. Steve loved spending time around the team once they got him out of his shell. And everyone enjoyed having Steve around.

"He said he had a headache" Clint supplied.

"But" Steve doesn't get headaches unless he was recovering from some pretty major injuries. There was no call outs today, no battles.

Nat gives him a look that he doesn't think he wants to decipher right now. Or maybe ever.

And so, he turns around to find the man he had been hiding himself away from for nearly a week. "I'll go check on him"

He quickly makes his way to Steve's room. When he knocks there is no response.

"Steve?" he calls, knocking once again.

Nothing.

He knocks louder. He shouldn't need to do this. Steve would easily be able to hear him.

"JARVIS? Is Steve in his room?" he asks, feeling the anxiety pool in his stomach. What if something was wrong? He hopes Steve is out and everything is fine.

"Captain Rogers is in his room, Sir"

Tony takes in a deep breath to calm himself. Maybe he was just alse- no. Steve woke at the drop of a pin.

"Open the locks, J" he says. The door lock clicks quietly.

He quickly makes his way into Steve's apartment. Nothing is out of place, but there are feathers everywhere. A lot of them.

Reaching down to pick up a feather he wonders what was going on. Was Steve pulling out his feathers? Where they falling out? Why?

"Steve?" Still no response.

Dropping the feather he makes his way over to Steve's bedroom. He swallows down his anxiety and pushes open the door.

Steve is curled up on his side on the bed, facing away from the door. His wings are wrapped tightly around himself.

Tony moves quietly into the bedroom, moving around the bed to side by Steve's side.

The man opens his eyes and looks up at him miserably. He looks awful. His eyes are red and his hair is a mess. Around him are loose feathers.

He lays his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Nat said you had a headache?"

Steve nods slowly beside him and sighs.

"What's wrong?'

The only response he gets is pathetic looking shrug.

"Steve…" he says softly, "You know you mean a lot to me, yeah?" he digs his nails into his thighs in efforts to keep his wings still. "It hurts seeing you like this. You can talk to me, Steve."

"It hurts-" Steve croaks out.

"Your head?" he asks.

Steve shakes his head. "The wings"

His hears sinks like acid in his guts. What if this was something he couldn't fix? What if the something went wrong with the spell because of the serum in Steve's veins? What if this was what did Steve in? He couldn't let Steve die, but he didn't know what to do.

Who could they even call? Who could even fix this?

A hand grabbing his wrist startled him out of his thoughts. He turned to Steve.

"Tony, I'm not dying" Steve says softly.

"Really?" he says, "Because I swear if you are dying and your just lying to make me feel better…"

Steve says, "I'm not, I promise" sounding like he was trying to put everything he has into making Tony believe that. He can't say it worked.

"Prove to me you are not dying." He picks up a feather from the bead and holds it out in front of Steve.

"What?"

"Steve. Please" he begs, "I need you to prove to me you're not dying"

"I'm not dying" Steve says quietly, looking away at the wall.

Tony sucks in a deep breath. "Buddy, I'm gonna need more than th-"

"I love you" Steve whispers. It feels load in the quiet space, he may have well shouted it.

No, he couldn't have heard that right. He must have misheard. "What?" he asks, biting back an uncomfortable laugh.

"I love you" Steve repeats, a little louder this time, but still not meeting his eyes.

"Uhh, for convincing me you are not dying you are doing a pretty bad job. I mean, death bed confessions, there a thing."

Steve sighs. "Tony, listen." He says. "I'm not dying. I'm just tired."

Tony gives him a sceptical look. He wasn't sure he could believe that.

"I love you, and I know the odds of a guy like you falling for a guy like me are slim to none. So I hid it. And everything was fine and I got to keep you as one of my dearest best friends. But this. These wings. There just so damn big. And I can't hide anything. Then" Steve takes in a shuddering breath. "Then you disappeared. I don't know if I made you uncomfortable or what else but it hurt. And I tried to hide my feelings from the others. But holding everything in. It took a toll." Steve gestures to himself and the room filled with his feathers. "My back cramped up with how tightly I was holding myself, I felt so unbalanced and heavy. I- I got headaches. And my feathers started falling out. I was sickly, like before I became what I am now. It hurt to hang around everybody, so I pulled back. The more I hide here, the less it hurt."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be burdening you with all this" Steve says, wrapping his arms around himself protectively. "But no. I'm not dying. All this… I'll be okay. I jus-"

Tony lays his hand on Steve's shoulder. "You really do love me?" he asks.

"Yeah" Steve chokes out, "I do".

"Steve" he says softly.

Steve shakes his head. "I'm Sorry"

"Don't" Tony says, and Steve looks up at him with tear filled eyes, "don't be sorry"

He leans in and kisses him gently. A soft meeting of lips. "I love you too" he breaths.

Tony lays down next to Steve and pulls him into his arms.

* * *

_**The End**_

Notes: For the Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange 2019.  
Prompt: Tony and Steve are cursed with wings. It is hard to hide anything with wings, as large and expressive as they are. (MCU Canon)


End file.
